Dramatic clouds at the beach

After work on Friday I took a nap.


Luckily, I got up before the sun set.


It looked like there would be some exciting clouds this evening!

I skipped dinner.


There was just enough time to drive to the Pier.

The drive seemed to take forever.




I got to the Huntington Beach Pier, right as the sun set.

Well, you can't catch them all.

Luckily my new phone does not complain about the low light levels anymore.

I was able to keep taking pictures even though it was a bit dark.





It felt like there would be lightning and thunder, but I couldn't see it yet.

I kept my eye on the big storm cells.

There was an empty patch of sky overhead, or I would not have ventured far onto the pier.

Even with an empty sky, in weather like this you can get what they call "A bolt from the Blue."


I kept this in mind as I ventured toward the end of the pier.

Eventually, lifeguards loudly announced that we needed to evacuate the pier and the beach.







I literally jumped when the pier lights all came on at their appropriate time!

One of the most amazing things to see was the completely empty beach:

I was glad to leave, but other people were just arriving, and walking out on the pier.



The beach can be just as dangerous as a golf course, etc. , in a thunderstorm.

Too bad it was dangerous.
It would have been fun to have all that beach to myself!



I saw much lightning on my drive home, especially near the pier I'd just left.

Today, everyone was excited about the big thunderstorm.

Hopefully, everyone was safe.